This story is about each letter of the alphabet at bedtime. The story starts off with hyper and rambunctious beginning letters but by the end of it they get sleepier and sleepier. Each letter is given a face and they have human like characteristics.

It's bedtime in Alphabet Town, but none of the letters are sleepy yet. As we see each of the letters in alphabetical order, they each have their own way avoiding bedtime until we reach Y, who is yawning, and finally Z, is snoring z's.

With its rhyming text and quirky cast of letters, The Sleepy Little Alphabet is strongly reminiscent of Bill Martin's classic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, although Sierra's narrative sees the lowercase alphabet preparing for bed, rather than heading for the coconut tree: "It's sleepytime in Alphabet Town. / As moms and dads run round and round, / the little letters skitter-scatter, / helter-skelter - what's the matter?" What begins in chaos ends in contentment, of course, as the little letters are soon put to bed, and snoring away with a zzzzz....

Although Sierra's tale of miniscules and majuscules is not particularly original, it reads well, and is entertaining enough. But it is Melissa Sweet's darling illustrations that really make the book, transforming letters into expressive and engaging characters. A whimsical combination of bedtime and alphabet book, sure to please the young children who make up its target audience. ( )

It's sleepy time in Alphabet Town. But the twenty-six little letters of the alphabet all have something they need—or want—to do before big-letter moms and dads tuck them in. Not since the classsic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom has there been such an appealing way to teach the youngest child the ABCs while providing a one-minute goodnight story. Of course, Melissa Sweet’s animated watercolor, pencil, and collage illustrations may beg for a little more time to match up all the toys with the right letters, and Judy Sierra’s rollicking rhymed story will want to be heard again and again. Okay, so maybe it’s a three-minute story!